New review says headers safe

Washington  A new review of research finds it's safe for youngsters to head the ball during soccer games. But parents, coaches and scientists aren't quite sure what to make of it.

Research has indicated that players could get concussions, and some youth leagues set rules to restrict striking the ball with the head.

However, doctors who reviewed the research say the technique is safe. But another expert stands by his contention that heading is too risky for the young. The scientists' arguments leave nonscientists unsure where to stand.

"It's almost a civil war, split down the middle, who likes it and who doesn't," said John Ouellette, coaching chief at the American Youth Soccer Organization.

AYSO doesn't forbid heading, but individual leagues can if they want to. And some do, for players ages 10 and younger.

AYSO's stand is that if players want to learn it, and the league allows it, the players should be taught proper form.

A key question is whether heading causes concussion. Athletes who receive repeated concussions can develop cognitive deficits. And a 1999 report in The Journal of the American Medical Association found soccer players scored lower than other amateur athletes on tests of memory and planning ability. Researchers suspected that repeated blows to the head could have been the cause.

The possibility that heading the ball could affect the ability to think is enough to worry some parents.

"Ninety-nine percent are moms who believe that, if it isn't necessary, let's not do it," Ouellette said.

On the other hand, players who have watched an older sibling or a pro on TV head the ball want to do it, too, Ouellette said.

And a new review of published studies casts doubt on the idea that heading the ball caused cognitive deficits. Head injuries can result from many other causes, such as striking a goalpost or colliding with another player, said Donald Kirkendall of the University of North Carolina.

"It looks like the prime factor in these cognitive deficits has to do with a history of head injuries, as opposed to heading the ball," said Kirkendall, a longtime soccer player and a member of the sports medicine committee in the U.S. Soccer Federation, the sport's U.S. governing body. His article is in the May issue of the journal Sports Medicine.

Especially in youth games, the ball may not be going fast enough to create the force required to generate brain injury, Kirkendall said. And a properly executed header, striking the ball at the hairline while the neck muscles are tensed, lets the force of the ball diffuse with safety through the whole body instead of concentrating on the skull, he said.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission held a conference on the issue in May 2000, but did not take any action.

Another researcher thinks the case for risk is compelling, at least in some players. Mariusz Ziejewski, an associate professor in neuroscience and a mechanical engineer specialist in impact biomechanics at North Dakota State, fired soccer balls at crash test dummies to gauge the potential for injury.

"Those studies show a substantial motion of the head, sufficient to cause concussion," when the ball struck the side of the head, Ziejewski said.